Method of making towel bibs

ABSTRACT

The method of making towel bibs is disclosed, which method wastes no material and, by simple fabrication from rectangular sheets of absorbent material, produces towel bibs, each having a basically rectangular shape and having in the top edge a rectangular opening which admits and encompasses the base of the neck of the wearer and which, when in use, provides open access to the neck of the wearer. Said opening is bordered on three sides by a protective flap of a uniform width extending from the main body of the towel bib and folded to the back side thereof. The flap, when tucked between the clothing and skin of the wearer, serves to hold the towel bib in place and provides a shield for the neckline and underside of the clothing of the wearer, while the main body of the towel bib provides a shield for the outside of the clothing of the wearer during the performance of shaving, cleansing, or other grooming operations on the face and neck of the wearer.

United States Patent [191 Meeker [451 Dec. 31, 1974 METHOD OF MAKING TOWEL BIBS [76] Inventor: Donald W. Meeker, 100 E. Ocean Front, Newport Beach, Calif. 92661 [22] Filed: July 23,1974

21 Appl, No.: 491,163

Primary Examiner-Alfred R. Guest [57] ABSTRACT The method of making towel bibs is disclosed, which method wastes no material and, by simple fabrication from rectangular sheets of absorbent material, produces towel bibs, each having a basically rectangular shape and having in the top edge a rectangular opening which admits and encompasses the base of the neck of the wearer and which, when in use, provides open access to the neck of the wearer. Said opening is bordered on three sides by a protective flap of a uniform width extending from the main body of the towel bib and folded to the back side thereof. The flap, when tucked between the clothing and skin of the wearer, serves to hold the towel bib in place and provides a shield for the neckline and underside of the clothing of the wearer, while the main body of the towel bib provides a shield for the outside of the cloth ing of the wearer during the performance of shaving, cleansing, or other grooming operations on the face and neck of the wearer.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTE UEm 1 m4 5 FIG. 1

1 METHOD or MAKING TOWEL BIBS This invention relates to a new and useful method of making towel bibs, each having a basically rectangular body and, at the center of the top edge, a rectangular neck opening bordered by an inward protective flap, which tucks under the clothing of the wearer to hold the towel bib in place.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a method which is efficient, using all of the material and wasting none, in the fabrication of towel bibs from rectangular sheets of absorbent material.

Another object is to provide a method of fabrication which is simple and consists of three short cutting operations, three short folding operations, two short attaching operations, and, if necessary to bind the edges of the material, one continuous edging operation.

A further object is to provide a protective shield for both the inside and outside of the clothing of the wearer during the performance of shaving, cleansing, or other grooming activities on the face and neck of the wearer.

A fourth object is to provide, by using absorbent material, a bib which also serves as a towel for wiping the face and neck of the wearer.

These and other objects and the exact method of fabrication will become apparent upon reading the following specification when considered with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a rectangular sheet of absorbent material, showing all the cut and fold lines necessary to this method;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the top portion of the back side of the rectangular sheet, showing the material adjacent to the Y-shaped cut folded to the back of the sheet and the resulting rectangular neck opening;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the completed towel bib in place on the body of the wearer;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the back of the completed towel bib;

FIG. 5 is a section view through section line 55 of FIG. 4, showing the protective'flap tucked between the clothing and skin of the wearer.

In accordance with the present method, rectangular sheets are cut from rolls of absorbent material commonly used in the trade. Each rectangular sheet has one dimension which is a whole number integral of the width of the roll of material, thereby using the entire roll of material without waste in cutting the rectangular sheets therefrom. For example, the length of the rectangular sheet could be one-half the width of the roll of material, or the width of the rectangular sheet could be one-third the width of the roll of material.

In order to produce a towel bib from each rectangular sheet and to utilize all of the material in each sheet, three cuts, three folds, two attachments, and if necessary one edge binding are all made on the rectangular sheet of material as indicated in the following description.

As seen in FIG. 1, the rectangular sheet 6 is out along the longitudinal centerline'from the center point 7 of the top edge ina straight line to an interior point 8 located on the centerline about three to five inches from the top edge. The same cut 10 is then continued in two branching cuts 11, which diverge to both sides at angles of forty-five degrees from the centerline, and which cuts 11 extend in two straight lines from the bottom point 8 of the single line part of the cut to two points 9 both equidistant from the centerline, in the present case by a perpendicular distance of two inches. This cutting operation produces in the rectangular sheet from the center of the top edge, an inverted Y-shaped cut 12 with an angle of ninety degrees between the branches of the fork in the cut.

At the bottom edge of the rectangular sheet, the two bottom corners of the rectangle are severed therefrom by making two straight cuts 16, each at an angle of forty-five degrees to both the bottom and the side edge. Each bottom out line 16 begins at a point 17 on the side edge of the material a distance from the bottom corner point 18 slightly larger than the distance between the end points 9 of the two branches of the Y-shaped cut; in the present case the distance from the corner point 18 to the side point 17 is approximately four and onequarter inches. And each bottom cut line 16 terminates at a point 19 on the bottom edge an equal distance from the corner point 18. Three pieces of material are formed by the last cutting operation; two small pieces 20 in the shape of right isosceles triangles, and one large piece 21 which is the main body of the towel bib.

On the top portion of the main body 21, the material adjacent to the inverted Y-shaped cut is folded to the back of the main body along a straight line 13 between the two bottom points 9 of the cut and along each of two straight lines 14 on either side of and running parallel to the centerline. Each parallel line 14 originates at a bottom point 9 of the inverted Y-shaped cut and terminates at a corresponding point 15 on the top edge of the material, a distance, in this case, of two inches from the centerline. As seen in FIG. 2, a rectangular opening 22 is thus provided in the center of the top edge of the main body 21 of the towel bib. Said rectangular opening 22 admits and encompasses the base of the neck of the wearer and provides open access to the neck of the wearer when in use, as indicated in FIG. 3.

Each of the two triangular pieces of material 20 are then attached to the folded material bordering the neck opening. As indicated in FIG. 4, each hypotenuse 16 of a triangular piece is attached, by sewing or glueing, to each straight edge of material 11 formed by folding back the material and thereby opening the branch lines 11 of the Y-shaped cut to form two straight edges 11, each of nearly the same length as the hypotenuse 16 of each triangular piece 20. When the two attachments are made with the center of each hypotenuse coincident with each of the two bottom corners 9 of the rectangular opening, a protective flap 23 in the shape of a block letter U is thus completed, bordering the rectangular opening uniformly on three sides, extending from the main body of the towel bib, and folding flat against the back of the main body. As seen in FIG. 5, the protective flap 23 is tucked beneath the clothing 25 of the wearer, in contact with the skin 26 of the wearer, to hold the towel bib in place and to protect the inside of the clothing from moisture dripping down the neck; while the main body 21 of the towel bib covers and protects the outside of the clothing.

Finally, if necessary to bind the edges of the material, one continuous edging operation of stitching or binder application 24 is performed around the outer edge of the main body of the towel bib and continued directly around the outer edges of the protective flap, as indicated in FIG. 4.

It is understood that the preceding description is given merely by way of illustration and that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by letters patent is:

1. The method of making towel bibs which includes providing rectangular sheets of absorbent material positioned with the short sides at the top and bottom, cutting from the center of the top edge of each sheet an inverted Y-shaped slit with an angle of ninety degrees between the branches of the fork in the cut, folding the material adjacent to the inverted Y-shaped slit to the back of the material and thereby producing in the center of the top edge of each sheet a rectangular opening sufficiently large to admit and encompass the base of theneck of the wearer and to allow open access to the neck of the wearer when in place on the wearer, cutting from each of the two bottom corners of each sheet a piece of material in the shape of a right isosceles triangle, attaching the hypotenuse edge of each of the two triangular pieces to each of the two straight edges of folded material formed by the opened branch lines of the inverted Y-shaped slit and thereby completing a flap of uniform width extended from the three borders of the rectangular opening, and binding all the outer edges of the material in one continuous operation. 

1. The method of making towel bibs which includes providing rectangular sheets of absorbent material positioned with the short sides at the top and bottom, cutting from the center of the top edge of each sheet an inverted Y-shaped slit with an angle of ninety degrees between the branches of the fork in the cut, folding the material adjacent to the inverted Y-shaped slit to the back of the material and thereby producing in the center of the top edge of each sheet a rectangular opening sufficiently large to admit and encompass the base of the neck of the wearer and to allow open access to the neck of the wearer when in place on the wearer, cutting from each of the two bottom corners of each sheet a piece of material in the shape of a right isosceles triangle, attaching the hypotenuse edge of each of the two triangular pieces to each of the two straight edges of folded material formed by the opened branch lines of the inverted Yshaped slit and thereby completing a flap of uniform width extended from the three borders of the rectangular opening, and binding all the outer edges of the material in one continuous operation. 